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I live in a condo building. All of the front doors in the building are auto-locking. That seems like kind of a handy feature, especially in a town where half the residents never lock their houses, you’d think that we’d be off to the races. That’s all fine and dandy, until you pop down the hallway and then have the sinking realization that you have locked yourself out.
The worst is when you get to work and realize you don’t have your wallet, so you know for the entire day that you can’t let yourself back in when you get home at night. If you’re lucky, your other half is around and you have a telephone. If you’re not, you have to bum a ride to a place eight minutes away, in order to get a new key. Thankfully, they have them ready to go, and they have photocopies of our IDs on file.
That’s how things were for the first year or so that we moved in. Then, something miraculous happened. It was like a flash back to my childhood.
Here’s How to Never Lock Yourself Out of Your House Again
This post contains affiliate links.
We got lock boxes
At the front door, there are over 100 black metal boxes with punch codes on them.
These things usually only cost $20-50 and hold anything from just a single key to a whole bunch of keys or other stuff.
In goes a spare key. Presto, you can’t lock yourself out anymore!
You can buy them on Amazon
The Trick to Not Locking Myself Out Of My House
The key to this is that you need to get the spare key, go to your place, pick up your key and IMMEDIATELY turn around and return the spare to its home in the lock box. Know what’s not very useful? A spot for a spare key with no spare key in it.
When I was growing up, we had one of these at home. It was perfect for days where plans changed, sports took longer than anticipated, or our parents had a schedule conflict and we had forgotten to take a house key with us.
If your situation is different, you might have to break a window, pay a locksmith, or discover how easy it really is to break into your house. These options can be expensive, to downright scary. Don’t do that. Get a lock box
So – there you have it – never lock yourself out again with this easy solution
Plus, you can do things like go bike riding or jogging and not have to carry a key. #win
Interesting post, Anne! I always seem to lock myself out of my car, and I hate calling the police to come and help me out. That being said, I really appreciate you sharing with me some insight on things I can do in order to unlock my car! I can’t wait to try this out and see how much it helps. Thanks a ton for sharing this with me Anne.
Hey Anne! I like your tip what you shared in this article.
I love your tip about getting a lock box to avoid getting locked out of your place again. My wife and I tend to lock ourselves out a lot. Finding a good locksmith who can rekey the facility might also be a great option to make sure no one gets a hold of a lost or stolen key.
You make a great point about taking your spare key immediately to your storage spot as soon as you use it. I can easily imagine using the spare key and then forgetting to put it back which will get you locked out next time. I would imagine in times like these, you’d want to contact a good locksmith. Having their information ahead of time could be a huge lifesaver.
Any key removing skill needs plenty of information to execute.An ideal idea to get out from any lockout solution needs to require some serious brainstorming to determine the best outcome. It needs skills and proper knowledge to identify the best.The arrangement of duplicate keys is always welcome.I found your article more interesting and useful as a tool which could help me explore my key removing ideas in this sector.
Any key removing skill needs plenty of information to execute.An ideal idea to get out from any lockout solution needs to require some serious brainstorming to determine the best outcome. It needs skills and proper knowledge to identify the best.The arrangement of duplicate keys is always welcome.I found your article more interesting and useful as a tool which could help me explore my key removing ideas in this sector.
Making a spare key is a good idea, I made one for myself and that works. Good Luck
I often do that and not only my home also forget the car keys. You have shared a great thing with us. I hope it’ll guide me whenever I repeat my mistakes. I appreciate your effort.
I know I’ve locked myself out of my home more times than I’d like to admit. Having a box like this would really help me not worry about doing that again!
Your suggestion to put the spare key right into the lockbox after you get it is really smart. Like you mentioned, if you don’t put it away right away, then you risk losing it again. In addition to placing a spare key in the lock box, we left a key with a neighbor we trust so that it’s easy to access if someone doesn’t put the key back.
I really like the idea of getting a lock box for our home. Dealing with the stress of a lost key is really not fun, so I need to look into getting one of these. We can rekey our home, and then put a box outside the front door.
Thanks for the tip, it really is a great solution and helps in case you happen any situation, such as losing keys!
that really is a great solution! I’m surprised more apartments and rental properties don’t have this.
Great post! Very informative. I gotta get one for my place. I’ll forward this post to my relatives as well since they tend to misplace things often . Cheers!
Those would be really convenient to have. Not everyone in my family has a key to our home, so this is almost essential for us. I always worry about forgetting my keys in my house and then locking myself out. This would help me with that worry!
It is such a simple thing to return your key to its spot when you are done using it, but I can see how it would be easy to overlook. With so many other things to remember, it is likely that someday I will probably make this exact mistake, even after reading your whole blog post. When that day comes, I will be grateful to have the option of calling a locksmith to help me out!
Very true….We should keep a spare key with us because sometimes a situation can occur when we get locked out of the door.
But these days new types of locks are coming. Simple mechanical push button keypads/combination locks offer a step up to the standard lock and key configuration by requiring a personal identification number (PIN) in order to open the lock. In this case there is no need to carry keys. But yes its not possible to change all the old locks by the new ones. So carrying a spare key is a good option.
Jerry Ortiz recently posted…Locked Your Keys Out of Your Car in San Diego?
That’s a great idea to put a spare key in a lock box. I think that’s also a good way to provide easy entrance for incoming relatives when you’re off running errands. Are there ways for burglars to break into the lock boxes?
Elden Gatley recently posted…Summer Plumbing Tips
A lock box like this would be great to have! I like the idea of being able to always have a way back in, especially for my kids, like you suggested. However, I wonder where I would put the lock box so that it is secured but easily accessible?
This is a great way to have a spare key on hand for those “just in case” moments. Thanks for sharing!
Anne, it seems like a lock box would be a good idea to probably get. Well, for my wife since she does lose her car keys more often than me. Well, just yesterday we were waiting for an on road locksmiths to help us unlock her trunk because somehow she left both the house keys and her car keys inside the trunk.
I always seem to lock myself out of my car, and I hate calling the police to come and help me out. That being said, I really appreciate you sharing with me some insight on things I can do in order to unlock my car! I can’t wait to try this out and see how much it helps. Thanks a ton for sharing this with me Anne.
Hello Anne, your shared lock easy solution is indeed an interesting idea and it’s a simple way to get unlocked. I just love the creative idea.
Mike@topmasterlocksmith recently posted…Residential Locksmith Services and Why You May Need Them
They have been many time I’ve looked my self out of the house, or car. I try too have a spare somewhere so I can use it when this happens. I think the lock box is a great idea, I will know where it is, and be the only one to get to it.
I always lock myself out of my car, and it’s so embarrassing calling the police to come and help me out. That being said, I really appreciate you giving me some insight on ways I can go about preventing this from happening, and for letting me know how I can unlock my car on my own. I’ll make sure I try this out the next time it happens. Thanks for the help.
I really like the idea, it makes thing easier, I hate it when I lose my keys or lock myself out, it always happen when I am rushing trying to get something done. happy a spear key in a lockbox or emergency will be really great. I am definitely going to get one of those boxes.
It’s a horrible feeling when you realize that you’ve locked yourself out of the house. I’ve never felt more helpless than in those moments. I would love to keep one of these around my home. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for your comment about how to prevent yourself from getting locked out of your home. My brother is a Realtor and he is really familiar with lockboxes because he’ll need to show a property or rental. This is a great solution for your home, but can be a little tricky for your car. You may still need to call a locksmith should you get locked out of your car.
Thank you for posting this. It is very informative post. The 100 black metal boxes with punch codes on them that usually only cost $20-50 and hold anything from just a single key to a whole bunch of keys or other stuff is a big help.
I had a bad lockout experience once. I’m wheelchair bound and locked my door behind me. I had to climb over a waist high patio fence and crawl through the sliding class doorway. Luckily, I hadn’t locked door. Needless to say, I never forget my keys these days. Thank goodness for strong arms and available locksmiths.
Anne, wow, what an fascinating thing to know that a lock box can store spare keys inside. It seems like I’ll have to look into from my local locksmith store. Since it’s what my family will be needing for this week in order to protect the house during the holiday season.
I lock myself out of my house ALL THE TIME! I need one of these in my garage. It’s such a smart idea!
These boxes seem like they would be great to keep your keys in. But what if you forget the code to them? A locksmith would probably have to open the box tat that point no? I feel like that would happen to me at least once.
Having a lock box is definitely a great idea. People are always locking themselves out of their home. I think that we would be surprised to know how common this actually is. I would love to have something like this outside of my house. That way I would never have to worry about forgetting my keys.
I have always had a problem with locking myself out of my home. I have no idea what it is, but I have done it more then 3 different times. So I really appreciate you talking about this, and sharing with me how I can prevent this from happening again. I’ll definitely look into getting one of these.
I never would have thought about getting a lock box to keep a spare key in, however, I can see how this could be really helpful in ensuring that you never get locked out of your house. I will definitely consider getting one of these because I need to rekey my locks anyway. I haven’t replaced the locks on my doors, so this is a perfect opportunity to secure my home. Thank you for sharing!
What does it take to become a locksmith? I’ve never thought about doing this until just recently, but it sounds like it could be a really cool job. This gave me some good insights, and if anyone has any other information on it, I would greatly appreciate it.
This is actually a really smart idea for those like me that forget there keys. I seriously thought there would be no other way to get in the house other then leaving a key in the mat. I can’t do the mat method because anyone can look and take the key and steal stuff.
That sounds like a nightmare to get locked out and have to go get a new key made. I am wheelchair bound and ride the bus. This is not an available option when I get home at night when the business day is over. Additionally, this problem is occurring often enough that I know that I cannot just pay a locksmith all the time.
Oh hey, I remember seeing those types of mobile keys before on my neighbor’s door. Those keys sure are quite fancy and they look way to advance for me. Mainly because of the many buttons they have and how they are able to lock tight. I wonder though, would there be a mobile locksmith that can unlock keys like those if ever they are unable to get unlocked?
I have always had the hardest time locking myself out of my home. I don’t know what it is, but I seriously have done it multiple times. You’d think that I would learn after the first few. So I really appreciate you giving me this idea that I could try out in order to help me with my problem. I really think that if I were to try this out lock box thing out, that it will be able to fix my problem.
I’ve never thought about doing this before. It definitely would be beneficial to try out though. Having a spare key on the property is definitely beneficial, but it’s really nice to know that you can only get the key if you know the right code. Hopefully people will be able to try out things like this a lot more often. Hopefully this kind of thing will really work well for people. I’m definitely considering it now for sure.
Actually, those lock-boxes are not a bad idea! It eliminates the risk of being locked out completely of your house, and allows you to just remember the code and always be able to access your keys. You even mentioned in that lock-box section that they’re around 20-50 dollars, which is pretty affordable. How much is it to copy some keys in addition to getting this lock-box do you think?
Lock boxes are an easy solution to making sure your house is secure from unwanted people, but also making sure that if something does happen you’re never locked out. I like how you show in the fourth paragraph how affordable they are– only 20-50 dollars. I also like how you can quickly just buy one online like on amazon. These are practical solutions to a common problem, so thank you for your insight on them.
Having a keypad lock on your doors would certainly be helpful for those who frequently lock themselves out of their house. A combination is much easier to remember than your keys. Do you know if this technology has become available for cars yet? It seems like car keys are locked inside cars more often than house keys are in houses.
I think having a lock box is a great idea. We rarely ever lock our front door because we don’t have keys to it. Often there are people out later than when most of us go to bed so we end up keeping it open half the night. It would be great if we had a lock box and could have the person who comes home last just use the code on it.
No keys? Yikes! Definitely get that fixed.
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
This sounds like a good idea. You would just want to be careful to not let anyone else see your pass code. I would install this in an out of the way spot, like behind a bush.
Indeed, that wouldn’t be good, if everyone found out your code.
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
Nice tip, however I dream of a keyless future. You can buy locks that you can open with your phone. I don’t have one yet, but I do have the kind that open with a code. I hate keys. I hate wallets too. I dream of a time when our phones will do it all: driver’s license, open doors, start the car, pay for stuff, cook me breakfast, teleport me to Kauai…
Mr. 1500 recently posted…The soylent experiment was never about the soylent
You should probably try living in HK, they’re way far ahead of us on this stuff!
The limitations of phones is that there isn’t cell coverage everywhere, though.
Let me know when cook breakfast and teleport to Kauai become options 😉
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
Im pretty bad for losing keys so when we built our house we got the builder to install a smart lock on the front door. It was about $80 and all you do is enter a 4 digit code for the door to open. It’s definitely saved me a couple times so far this year
Dan @ Our Big Fat Wallet recently posted…Costco’s Secret Price Codes
Awesome, I absolutely love those things. Not an option in my condo, but so handy to have at home. A lot of my friends had those when we were in high school, they’re great when you’ve got kids coming and going.
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
This definitely makes sense! For homeowners you can always install your own lock that has a numerical combination instead of requiring the key. So, as long as you can remember your combination…..
Brock @CleverDude recently posted…Can Kcups Be Used More Than Once?
No amnesia allowed!
I’ve never seen a front door handle with a combo lock, is that a thing??
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
It sure is…my neighbor has one because they got sick of their kids losing their keys!
Brock @Cleverdude recently posted…CleverDudes Can Cook: Shredded Pork Enchiladas Edition
Wow, that really is a great solution! I’m surprised more apartments and rental properties don’t have this. Then again, I didn’t think of it either. Thanks for sharing!
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted…You Won’t Believe What the Show Breaking Bad is Actually About
It’s really simple and really affordable. A fair number of places around me are vacation homes and have them to make rental and “oh no we forgot the keys at home” situations disappear.
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
It’s a good idea. I wonder where we could hang one rather than on the front door. My husband is in real estate and we have spares lying around.
debs @ debtdebs recently posted…55 Reasons it’s Okay To Be 55
Oh nice. They are popular in real estate, that’s one of the places I used them a lot.
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
I have never locked myself out of my house but I can imagine the feeling of anxiety! The only thing worse is if it was cold or something like that and you were freezing! I should probably consider a lock box!
Debt and the Girl recently posted…One of My Reasons for Working Hard…
Never? Wow, I am impressed! Our doors auto lock and it has been an awful learning curve, let me tell you.
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
Where do you put the lock box?
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life recently posted…How Fast Can You Churn a Credit Card?
Ours are in the vestibule in our building. When I was a kid, it was in the pool shed in the back yard.
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
I’m guilty of hiding a spare key outside… which I know isn’t safe. But in my last apartment, there were two doors. So I hid a key for the main doors outside of my apartment, and then I hid the key to my actual unit in the building’s laundry room. So, if a potential burglar found my key outside, they could get into the building, but were still locked out of each apartment (assuming they locked the doors, that is).
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Oh, that’s a good thought!! I like it.
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
I’ve had a couple moments where I lost my keys or forgot to put them in my purse. Such a scary moment. This is a great idea though! Luckily my roommates are always home when I’m locked out.
Nice, that’s so helpful!
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
Very good idea. I wonder if my building would go for this though.
Hugely helpful! We have a large number of vacation owners, plus there was a perfect chunk of wall, so it was pretty easy. Plus the auto-locking doors meant a LOT of us had locked ourselves out.
Anne recently posted…I Finally Made Money in April – Money Propeller’s Blog Earnings and Stats
I think I’m gonna get myself one of these babies these days. Being locked out is such a bum. Remembering how you forgot to bring your key is so frustrating!
I really, truly recommend having one. I love that thing!
Anne recently posted…Never Lock Yourself Out Again With This Easy Solution